New Study on School Choice Released

In the past few years a number of studies have been published with regards school choice, these studies are important, in making the case for school choice! Because o fthe media polarization, it is important that parents know this information. Here are just two synopsis of 3 studies all catogarized.

Graduation Rates

“Graduation Rates for Choice and Public School Students in Milwaukee,” Jay P. Greene, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, School Choice Wisconsin, September 2004
This study examines whether students in Milwaukee experience greater educational success if they use a voucher to attend a private school rather than remaining in public schools. While early high-quality research on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program suggested that they do, it has been almost a decade since those early evaluations, and critics have continued to question whether the program provides students with better educational opportunities. This study calculates graduation rates for choice students and students remaining in public schools in order to provide new evidence on whether Milwaukee's voucher program benefits students academically.

Choice students in Milwaukee graduate high school at much higher rates (64 %) than students in its public schools (36%). What's more, their graduation rates are higher than those at selective public high schools (41%)whose students are likely to be more advantaged in their background than Milwaukee's choice students, who are disproportionately poor and minority.This indicates that choice students' higher graduation rates are unlikely to be the result of any demographic bias in the student population.

“New Figures in Education at a Glance 2004 Provide Further Evidence of the Benefits Accruing From Education,” Education at a Glance 2004, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2004
The case for more and better education is often made, whether in terms of lifelong learning, expansion or diversification of the provision in particular sectors or simply improving the quality of the education that is already delivered. The United States is falling behind other countries in having a high school-educated public, with the gap widening the most among young adults. A total of 87 percent of U.S. adults age 25 to 34 have finished high school, which puts the country 10th behind such nations as Korea, Norway, the Czech Republic and Japan. The older the population, the better the United States fares - it remains first in high school completion among older adults and fifth among adults age 35 to 44. But other nations are making fast gains among younger adults and passing the United States on the way.



Impact of School Choice on Public Schools

“Competition Passes the Test,” by JAY P. GREENE & MARCUS A. WINTERS, Education Next, Summer 2004
Do public schools respond to competition from private schools by improving the quality of instruction? This is one of the key questions in the voucher debate. Advocates of vouchers believe that public schools facing the threat of losing students and funding to private schools will take the measures necessary to raise student performance. Opponents worry that vouchers will actually leave public schools worse off by draining them of funds and encouraging the best students and the most involved parents to flee a failing school. Florida’s A+ program affords a unique opportunity to test these competing predictions.

For more research on School Choice please follow link

http://www.allianceforschoolchoice.org